Brains, beauty and business, Ann Kaplan Mulholland is one of the savvy and stylish stars of TV’s newest hit show Real Housewives of Toronto.

An award winning business woman, Ms. Kaplan is the recipient of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2015, and 2000; the Peak Award of Excellence in Finance, as well as nine times on the Canada’s Profit 100 list for growth.

She has been recognized with highest honor as Rotman School of Business Top Women in Management/Entrepreneurship, 2015 with a WIMA Award; internationally the recipient of numerous entrepreneurship awards, Kaplan has a MBA, MSc, a Corporate Governance Designation (ICD.d) and is completing her Doctoral Thesis in finance.

“I absolutely enjoy what I do for a living — the people that I work with, incorporating change; running a national finance company–is challenging – it has been an incredible career.”

But Ann isn’t all business she is the mother of eight children, and is involved in many charities including supporting AIDS research, Universities/Education and Transforming Faces — I support financially — but I also have taken in a family from Ethiopia (to live with me) and am still involved.

“My mother said I was “born running”, always driven and always independent,” she says.“

The inspirational Ms. Kaplan invited Celebrity Spaces into her home:

Q: How would you describe your home?

A: Traditional elegance

Q: Tell us about your home?

A: We have five homes. Our main residence is a 6500 sq. ft. traditional home, I like to think it is elegant, very different than our other places (that are modern). It is located in Forest Hill and we have comfortably lived there for 13 years.

Q: What attracted you to this space?

A: The home was near the children’s school (Upper Canada College and BSS), it also had eight bedrooms (rare) — the architectural attention to detail is beautiful — the moment I saw it I said ‘this is perfect.’

Q: What do you love the most about your home?

A: It is “us” — our house is full of memories.

Q: Do you entertain a lot at home?

A: We have eight children — every night is entertainment… but I do cook frequently for pe ople — usually smaller groups (intimate dinners).

Q: How much time do you spend at home?

A: I am at home as much as any parent that works full time, travels has eight children and stars in a reality television show.

Q: Who shares this home?

A: We currently have three children at home, one dog (Emma) and a recently acquired cat names Puss Puss (I did not name her).

Q: What is your favourite room and why?

A: I love the main living room — it is gorgeous — every night my husband and I finish our day sitting together and chatting in the living room.

Q: As a mother of eight, you must enjoy an occasional escape – is there a special place in your home to get away and relax?

A: There is nowhere to relax in the house — even if I am in the shower there is Emma (dog) waiting or a kid knocking on the door to chat — I have even gone out to the car to make a private call (and one of the kids came to the window and held up a sign)…no escape, but I like the sounds of a busy home.

Q: How would you describe your decorating style?

A: My first degree was interior design, that does not make me a good designer, but I do love any kind of design. I would say that (of all our homes) the house reflects who I am as a person. Very traditional, large swag valances with layers of curtains, delicately carved antiques, pinks, reds, greens and golds. It is also a place where you can sit on the furniture, relax, put your feet up (but not on the coffee tables)…I chose every piece of furniture as if I was choosing a piece of art — we have a lot of kids, I did not want to get stressed by having “white”.

Q: What is your fondest memory in this home?

A: My fondest memory at home was/is the children – the absolute chaos of an extremely busy household… kids, noise, pets …I loved it when my mother was with us (she lived with us for five years until recently (she passed away)) — I was overjoyed to have her with me.

Q: Weekends at home, what are we most likely to find you doing?

A: We have a closet in the kitchen full of art supplies – we do a lot of art at home. I love to paint and love to cook. It is therapy.